Commuting - Very Long Commute Club: week 30

Hi Guys and Gals,

Mars is out this weekend moving. So He asked me to stand in for him.

This week lets talk Lights. What type head light do you use? Whats the output wattage? How does it works for you? And have you made any mod's to it?

L&M ARC, works just awesome. Rear light this week will be the Dinotte tail light.

This will be my last week spending an hour plus towing my son a day or two a week as my wife got a new job that will allow her to pick him up at the end of the day. I'm excited because that will let me get in another day or two/week of commuting and also vary my ride choice a bit.

I have a CygoLite..Im not sure the model but it cost about 70.00.
Its dual beam and it works very well but the switchery seems
sort of cheap and after only a year of light use I have a bad feeling the
male end of the battery cable that goes into the bulb unit is about to
fail because the lite flickers when the cable gets jiggled. :eek:
I have have fashioned a quick-release bracket out of an old seat reflector
bracket so I can move it to any of my bikes.

Mine is strictly a homebrew setup using the Optronics driving lights for housings. I run a 10w narrow flood and a 20w spot off of a 12v SLA and I switch between them as needed. I'm now on my third housing design and I think this one might be the best setup. I can get 3 hours of run time in normal use, if I stuck to just the 10w I could probably go longer. I really like the setup. The 10w has plenty of spill and gives you a nice sphere of visibility. The 20w is seriously bright which is great when riding under the street lights or on really dark pieces of trail. I think all the parts cost me maybe $50. Given my case redesigns I might be up to $75 total in materials.

I'm going to try to squeeze in a little recreational ride tomorrow with any luck. Looks like it should be a decent week for the commute.

Well you know I can't just buy a off the self system and leave it alone. So What I got was a cheap Nite Hawk Nomad Headlight ($19.95 from NashBar). The system comes with a frame bag and is powered by 4 D-Cell batteries. They say it will run 12 hours. But I find that after only 3 to 4 hours the light is so low that it will not let you see. But I bought it for the housing abd bag only.

I replaced the battery with a 6V 6.5 amp/hour battery from Home Depot. Now it runs 7 days on one charge. Using it about 1 hour per day. And the battery is just under 6v. The battery will just fit in the frame bag. Then I replaced the the 5w halogen bulb with a 10w halogen blub. So I ended up paying about 40.00 for a very good system that will run 4 hours without dimming at all.

Now try to find a 10w system that can match that for $40.00 and I'll buy it and leave it a only.

As for a tail light. I am making a Flasher/stop light for the rear light. it will flash until you hit the breaks. then it goes stady till the breaks are released. The back to flashing it goes. I'll have to post pictures of it later.

Depending on the bike. Right now, I've got Optronics housing a 35 watt solux 4700 spot beam carrying a heavy 12 volt 10ah SLA in my trunk rack on my wet bike. On my other bike I use a 20 watt/ 10 watt Halogen Nitehawk Dual bottle battery setup. But that all about to change as I just received my 30watt Trailtech MR16 HID. Can we say bright :) Just need to get a few more parts, like a quick release bar mount and Li-On battery and charger because I'm getting tired of lugging along the heavy 12v10ah SLA.

Cig, sounds like a good setup. I'm with you, the price for lights seems ridiculous so a little bit of a DIY challenge is well worth it. In my daydreams I contemplate a more elaborate system using various combinations of the newer LEDs, which would go longer on the same battery. Since I'm happy with what I have I'm in no rush to build a new system.

Kqatwork -- quite a bright spot you are -- have you ever been spotted by satellites? I think 20w is bright, but 35w halogen has got to be like sunshine bright.

Did a fun ride this morning of 24 miles. Here a photo I took of the computer just after the ride.

Cig, sounds like a good setup. I'm with you, the price for lights seems ridiculous so a little bit of a DIY challenge is well worth it. In my daydreams I contemplate a more elaborate system using various combinations of the newer LEDs, which would go longer on the same battery. Since I'm happy with what I have I'm in no rush to build a new system.

Kqatwork -- quite a bright spot you are -- have you ever been spotted by satellites? I think 20w is bright, but 35w halogen has got to be like sunshine bright.


Marylandnewbie: 35 watts isn't bright enough for my poor night vision and the speeds I travel, thats why I finally broke down and bought the 30watt HID from Trailtech. Lets face it though no matter how bright we make ourselves, the cagers generally see through us.:mad:

Hi Guys and Gals,
This week lets talk Lights. What type head light do you use? Whats the output wattage? How does it works for you? And have you made any mod's to it?
Multiple lights.
Cygolite dual halogen helmet $60 down from $80 I use this as the main light on my vintage road bikes or as an add-on to the modern bike. Spot and Narrow flood 6v / 10w, NiMh water bottle battery. Originally 6w but I blew that out using an 8.4v battery. Great for staring down cagers. This is sufficient by itself.
Nitehawk SLA $20 down from $60 6v 10w handlebar light - One occasionally used as backup, and another for my son's road bike.
Little handlebar 3 LED blinky - to be seen only, may help you walk out
Big power DIY $200+ [Li-ion expensive!] Two optronics housings side by side off my aerobars. I have multiple MR16 halogen bulbs in separate housings for exchange. They rate 20w - 35w, 10degree - 24 degree, 3000K - 4800K (some solux). A couple are the high-efficiency Phillips brand. These are controlled by a lightbrain computer. A side momentary push button switches 1st light 33%, 66%, 100%, then adds 2nd light 66%, 100%. It overvolts at 13.2v until battery voltage drops. I normally use a Li-ion 18v 6.125 ah battery. I also have 2 8.4v RC NiMh packs in series. With 20w/35w lights going cars wait for considerable time at intersections :D I haven't measured duration on a charge but at 33% a 20w lasted over 6 hours. Only the Li-ion battery has lasted.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6474/p1010566ir0.jpg

Well I did my first fixed gear commute this morning, quite nice to be back on the fixie.

L&M ARC HID front, Cateye LD600 and Blackburn Mars 3.0 for the rear.

nice to see that ti is back on a 'real bike'... :)

I ride a trailtech HID-- have had it 2 weeks and love it. Prior to that I had a 10w halogen NightHawk raptor, that cost $39 at Performance a few years ago. I actually had two of them--figuring at that price I could afford to have a backup for when I 'forgot' to recharge the battery. A little heavey, but pretty good--until I tried the HID. Unbelievable difference-

I am off to Costa Rica for a month tomorrow--so no commuting for a month! However, I will be riding. My wife and I are building a hotel on the southern Pacific coast, which should be open for business in mid-December. (shameless plug-- maryselva.com)

have a great November-- I will post on occasion.

train safe-

I've got Eurolight Twin halogen lights up front, a 10W and a 5W, with a Hella TP1000 3 LED blinky. Hella 960 3 LED blinky on the back and i will be getting a second back LED soon cos i'm neurotic about the first one failing and me never knowing.

Didn't need any lights this AM. One of the perks of DSL. Warmest commute in a while. Last FRIdays ride home was a wet one. Arrived home to find the boiler was down. Burned wood all wknd waiting for the repair man. BAD news!! The boiler is dead! Luckily this weeks temps are mild while we go heatless.

Lights: Helmet mounted Performance 10W. Decent, 4 years old, they back their product. I am building 2 systems for my 2 bikes. I am using a 50W Optronics hooked to a 12V 7AMP hr, clunky battery. Damn that is heavy. It's really one brightlight tho' I will be changing the light for a homemade 35W spot with 12 degree spread. I should get a longer burn time. The other bike will have 2-20W halogen(spot and flood), switches and same battery. I use PVC piping for the housing(cost $1.00usd). All told I will have 3 lights, switches for under 35.00. The batteries are free.

I'm off to buy a boiler

Buelito: I didn't see any bf.net discounts on your costa rican hotel:D

balto:

He has number of moutain bikes that cen be used while staying there.

I hope to take my family down next winter.

There is some fine fair weather for commuting today! I'm hoping I can do the next three days too as I have Friday off. Could be a little tough as I did two hard rides this weekend. Will have to concentrate hard on pacing myself.

FlyTheBike: I know what you mean by having to pacing your self. When I do a hard ride it seems to carry over to my commute for the next week or two.

Fly: The easy answer is fixed gear.

Transitioning to a new season
By Joe Friel
UltraFit.com
10/26/2004
With the end of the race season and the approach of winter, it's time to shift your training emphasis to Base period objectives.
In the last few months you've been singularly focused on race-specific training with workouts that simulate the conditions of your most important races. As the season closes down, I find that it's very difficult for athletes to make the switch from the Build to Base period.

For one thing, athletes don't want to give up their hard-won race fitness. For another, they find it difficult to make the changeover.
I witnessed a good example of this phenomenon this morning on my long, easy ride. I was passed by a dozen roadies who were flying with a few women and a junior in tow. All were huffing and puffing, some more than others. This was your typical Sunday morning hammer session.
Most of the riders in this group are well on their ways to ruining their 2005 season and it's only November 2004! It's a shame, but I see athletes do this every year.
Let's start with the first issue: Can you maintain your race fitness from the 2004 season until the first A-priority race in the spring of 2005? No, you can't. It's impossible.
Fitness is transient. The finer elements of race fitness, such as anaerobic endurance and sprint power, take just a few weeks to fully develop -- maybe six to eight. Once you bring these elements to a peak they begin to fade no matter how hard you try to hold onto them indefinitely.
Those elements that take the longest to initially build stay with you the longest after the race season ends. Endurance is a good example of this, but even it fades after a while.
Attempting to maintain race fitness from one season to the next will only lead to lower levels of race fitness in the subsequent season -- if you aren't first stopped by the overtraining syndrome or burnout.
Now for the other issue: Athletes find it difficult to change their training at the end of the season to something that is altogether different. Maybe it's a feeling of guilt from doing less. Or maybe they're just in a rut.
Or perhaps they have no idea what they are doing in training and so rely on the local group rides, runs or swims to provide "structure." Whatever the reason, continuing to do the very same hammer sessions all winter will not be productive.
All of this raises the issue of what you should do in the Base period of training as you start preparing for 2005.
For the athlete whose next "A" race is 20 or more weeks away, there are three elements of training you should be working on now or after you've had a few weeks to "transition" from your last race. They are:
Endurance
Long, slow workouts are best for this. "Slow" means you are at least at 50 percent of VO2 max, which is around 60 percent of your max heart rate, or about 40 to 50 beats below your lactate threshold heart rate.



The physical purposes of these sessions are to 1) improve or maintain heart, lung and blood function, 2) train the muscles to rely more heavily on fat for fuel, and 3) improve the efficiency of the slow-twitch muscles.
Endurance training also provides a nice mental break from intense training.

Force
Weights, general strength training, low cadence/big gear rides and "easy" rides in the hills all are good strategies for improving force.
As for weights, my Training Bible books describe in great detail a weight-room periodization plan.
As for the other workouts to improve force, be sure to make them aerobic. No hammering. Just steady efforts against resistance. For swimmers, paddles and drag devices (T-shirts, carpenter's apron, etc.) also improve force as does working on a Vasa Trainer.
Speed skills
This is probably the least understood aspect of training, yet the one that most athletes stand to gain the most from.
"Speed skills" refers to being able to efficiently make the movements of the sport at the speed required of the sport. For example, almost anyone can efficiently pedal a bike at 50 rpm on a flat surface in a low gear. But if you want to turn a high gear at 100 rpm, that's a different story.
This takes a lot of training to develop. The starting place is with being able to turn the cranks efficiently at 100 rpm in a low gear. Or being able to run and swim efficiently at race speed.
The workouts here revolve around drills. For cycling, these may be one-leg pedaling, spin-ups or fixed-gear riding. Runners can do high-turnover, relaxation strides. For swimmers the possibilities for drills are almost limitless. Swimming has done more with speed skills development than any other endurance sport.
It won't be easy to give up your Sunday morning hammer session in favor of a long, easy workout, force work or drills. But by doing this you'll find that your race fitness next season develops to a high level -- much higher than if you insist on doing the same things week after week.

Monday, my long commute. 29F this morning - I wore my Gill Morph jacket - nice, and my new Chillblocker sealskinz gloves, not nice. The sealskinz are waterproof but not warm enough, I had to stop and put liner gloves on. I guess they'll be my 40'sF gloves. Three hours later, after class, I rode back to work in the high 50'sF. This evening, after 5pm, It was 60F and dropping quickly (with 50F cold spots on trail). The temperature range this time of year is very challenging.

FlyTheBike: I know what you mean by having to pacing your self. When I do a hard ride it seems to carry over to my commute for the next week or two.

Pacing: Well, using my new zones from my fitness test, today I rode in with the heart rate monitor. I concentrated on staying in zone 1. The effect of this kind of ride should be to promote recovery.

Some of the people I see commuting day after day are riding as hard as they can on that given day, all the time. These kind of people tend to burn themselves out after awhile, their bodies get run down, they crash or get sick, this kind of thing. They can't ride slower than they possibly could. They are like a car redlining all the time - they can't pace themselves. On my slow days these kind of people pass me all the time. But if they lined up to race me next April, I would destroy them. If all you do is go 19 miles an hour all the time, that is all you can do. But if you 15mph one day and 25mph the next (for a little while anyway), you build speed.

Then I rode to class, just a few miles, after work. Just for fun I did a couple jams to see how I was feeling. I felt like 2 or 3 times better than this morning. So that zone one ride really did promote recovery. If I can do the same thing tomorrow, then I get the miles in, keep promoting a high metabolism and I can work on my form - I'm trying to develop greater efficiency. So I'm pedaling a high cadence. And focusing on my left leg, which I know is weaker and lazier than my my right. And I'll keep dropping weight. I've lost eight pounds now in the last eight weeks.

I'm tired from riding hard this weekend, but rather than take off completely, this week I'm going to just try and ride slowly and keep the same pace, back off on the hills, and let my body recover.

Fly: The easy answer is fixed gear.

You're prechin' to the choir Tix2. I have a fixed gear: http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/mar/MarkKerlin.htm

Bike is totally different than in that pic now. Has a front brake, a wound up fork, different stem, saddle, etc. I will probably start fixed gear rides next week.

The problem is that riding to work my route has many ups-and-downs so riding fixed demands good fitness and the willingness and ability to fluctuate the heart rate quite a bit, or else walk up hills, or tolerate a very small gear at other times. Until my wife starts her new job next week, I don't have the ability to ride fixed - I have to pull my son home in a Burley if I ride other than on Mondays, and that is too hard to do fixed - right now anyway.

And I love that piece by Friel. I preach that to many racers on our team all the time. Last year, most of them ignored me, rode their tails off all winter, and then proceeded to have their worst racing seasons ever - the elite team being the notable exception. They rode hard, but steady and had a great year.

You're prechin' to the choir Tix2. I have a fixed gear: http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/mar/MarkKerlin.htm


Fly:

If interested I will be starting some fixed gear centuries in November. Gear will either be a 42x16 or a 42x17.

Nice ride this morning, I can not wait for this afternoon, as it is supposed to hit 75F.

Fly:

If interested I will be starting some fixed gear centuries in November. Gear will either be a 42x16 or a 42x17.

Nice ride this morning, I can not wait for this afternoon, as it is supposed to hit 75F.

I don't know that I can stand that duration fixed yet, could do about three hours perhaps, though. That gearing sounds about right though, my smallest would be like 44x17 or 18. I'm gone from 14-26 in San Diego, bringing a bike, might bring the fixed, probably should...

Excuse me, I've seen this thread going for a while but I'm not sure what a "very long commute" is.

What is considered a very long commute?

There is some fine fair weather for commuting today! I'm hoping I can do the next three days too as I have Friday off. Could be a little tough as I did two hard rides this weekend. Will have to concentrate hard on pacing myself.

The worst thing about pacing is getting past by others. Gotta swallow your pride. I use to always hammer then finally, I was spent. I had nothing left. Now I spin easy most days, crank when the legs ask for it.

todays commute was good, tonight 70's!! brought some shorts just in case.

Someone emailed me this link. She is one dedicated commuter that is not affraid of confrontation.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20061027_1.htm

It was great weather for the ride this morning. I'm afraid to say I reprised my jack o'lantern costume from last year -- why mess with success!

Has anybody else ever had this problem. Somehow this morning without throwing the chain off I managed to get the chain off the lower derailleur wheel and on the outside of the derailleur frame. On my derailleur (a low end Shimano) above and slightly behind the lower pulley a small metal tab reaches from the back plate that holds the pulley almost across to the front plate. Somehow the chain was running over that metal tab instead of the pulley. I had to loosen the screw that holds that lower pulley in place to get the chain back on, so I am baffled at how it got out. Even stranger, it did not make my bike stop. It probably slowed me down, but I probably rode for 4 miles before I discoverred the problem. It was making some noise, but the derailleur still worked so I didn't stop -- I figured it was just a leaf or small stick that was caught and rubbing on the chain. Anybody else ever have such a weird thing happen?

Has anybody else ever had this problem. Somehow this morning without throwing the chain off I managed to get the chain off the lower derailleur wheel and on the outside of the derailleur frame. On my derailleur (a low end Shimano) above and slightly behind the lower pulley a small metal tab reaches from the back plate that holds the pulley almost across to the front plate. Somehow the chain was running over that metal tab instead of the pulley. I had to loosen the screw that holds that lower pulley in place to get the chain back on, so I am baffled at how it got out. Even stranger, it did not make my bike stop. It probably slowed me down, but I probably rode for 4 miles before I discoverred the problem. It was making some noise, but the derailleur still worked so I didn't stop -- I figured it was just a leaf or small stick that was caught and rubbing on the chain. Anybody else ever have such a weird thing happen?

Newbie:

I think when you had the choice of Trick or Treat, you chose a Trick. If you said treat you would have had a 15mph tailwind in both directions. I have never ever heard of that happening.

Ti -- I think you're right on the trick part. I will have to look at my derailleur more closely to see how such a thing can happen. I have to say I see no real way for the chain to do that without something cataclysmic happening. As an aside I'm not sure if I should be proud that I could pedal along with only minimal drag with the chain running on bare metal or feel somewhat chagrined that I didn't feel it sooner.

Its going to be a gorgeous night to ride home. With any luck I will be out of the office in just a little bit. Ride safe everyone!

Its going to be a gorgeous night to ride home. With any luck I will be out of the office in just a little bit. Ride safe everyone!
I agree - a few cold spots on trail but nice. Halloween is a terrible time to commute by car. My bike commute is 43 +/- 2 minutes.
Fired up the DIY dual halogens tonight - running between 35w and 55w - worked great.

Excuse me, I've seen this thread going for a while but I'm not sure what a "very long commute" is.

What is considered a very long commute?

I think it is what, 8 or 10 miles one way? Mine is 17 one way. Or about 22, depending on if I'm pulling my son in the Burley to and from day care.

I have to find a ride buddy now that I have a short commute. I don't miss the job at Home Depot. But I do miss the ride. So I am going to find a ride buddy for fun rides, But it's going to be hard to find one that can keep up. So I fig I'll have to slow down and teach my ride buddy to spin. Today before work I did a fun ride of 26.26 miles. With a average ride time speed of 18.7 mph. But after commuting to work it gave me a 33.64 miles for the day with a ART of 17.1 mph. took it easy going to and from work.

Had to buy my 6 year old a new bike. His old bike is way to small. So I got him a 18" BMX bike. Could not find him a 18" road bike. But he ride it at 15 mph. So he may not need a road bike just yet.

Great ride last last. short sleeves in the end of Oct...not too shabbby. It was kinda neat to see the trick or treaters out while I was riding in the dark. As I rode past I would hear .."wow look at all those lights" It then struck me how seldom I see kids outside these days...only on Halloween. It's a shame. This AM ride was another good one. It all comes to an end tonight...rain and cold return. I really have to get a furnace....soon.


I agree - a few cold spots on trail but nice. Halloween is a terrible time to commute by car. My bike commute is 43 +/- 2 minutes.
Fired up the DIY dual halogens tonight - running between 35w and 55w - worked great.

Robtown: Do you have a 35W and 20W or 35W and 55W. I am really stunned how my old 10W helmet mount seems so dull. 55W is a serious amount of light.

Scorer -- sorry I didn't respond earlier, but I kind of missed your posting. The VLC has a very rigorous membership threshold -- if you think that your commute is long or extreme then you are in. It could be because of heavy traffic, tough terrain or just the distance you travel. Whatever the reason you think its a long commute you're welcome.

It as a fabulous morning to be on the bike in DC. Tremendous fall color almost everywhere, with great sunshine. I almost thought I would miss the ride this morning since my son is sick. But my wife shifted her schedule to stay home with him so I could hit the trail. It will all come to an end soon enough, but for right now I'm just enjoying it.

I'm going on vacation with my bike! Well...I'll be working part of the time in my old office in Oakland CA(we moved just over a year ago). I can't wait to do my old training routes and commute to work in my old hood. Were staying with some friends in the Oakland hills so my ride will still be over 10 miles one way with 1000+ feet of climbing...man I miss those hills!

You all have a good rest of the week and weekend. Cig - still trying to find some time to meet up on a ride with you.

I commute either 15 or 19 mi. one way depending on conditions (mostly on trails). It's very dark here (Alaska) now, but the snow reflects light which helps a lot. I've just switched from a dual Performance which I used for 6 years to a NR Flite. Huge difference w/ good luck using the Li Ion battery. I haven't a clue how long the battery lasts; commute is only just under 2 hours w/ studs. I run the high setting for the 4 hours with no noticeable difference in light intensity.

So far so good. In addition to the handlebar mount & the helmet mouint, I purchased a separate head strap for skiing. Can't wait!

Scorer -- sorry I didn't respond earlier, but I kind of missed your posting. The VLC has a very rigorous membership threshold -- if you think that your commute is long or extreme then you are in. It could be because of heavy traffic, tough terrain or just the distance you travel. Whatever the reason you think its a long commute you're welcome.

Well I guess the 17-22 miles I ride each way qualifies, or maybe it's the NYC traffic I deal with, or the projects I ride through where even the cops do a double-take when they see a white guy on a bike in that neighborhood.

Either way, thanks for the info.

Weird thing last night: I get home and take my cylocross bike into the house. As I set it down, it starts making a sound like static or something. Took a while to find it, but it was the valve stem on my back wheel. Why then and there, I have no idea.

So, I took the recumbent back out and rode her to work today. Man that bike is fast! Gorgeous day out, think I will take the long way home this pm.

PS: thansk for starting the thread CigTech. Hey, what does CigTech mean, anyways?

Boy with Arcticbiker, CigTech and O-town we have the extremes of the continental US covered don't we! I would think in parts of Alaska a 5 block commute could be extreme.

Scorer -- welcome aboard. I think you've met our lofty membership requirements on many levels.

Mars -- nice to see you back. I know that feeling of wanting a longer ride. I may try to squeeze in a longer ride this weekend if the weather holds. It won't be as warm, but it might be a gorgeous sunny day.

CigTech name come to being because I am computer tech. Back in the day of the BBS (1989 or so). A friend of mine came up with it. See I somke and I am computer tech. So Cig is for Cigarettes and Tech is for computer tech. So there you have it.

BTW, I have a few times tried to change my screen name, but it fits me so I'm stuck with it for life...

Took the 6 year old son (Zak) out for a ride. Now that he has a real bike as he puts it. He wants to go for rides, boy does he. So we road around the park and down to this small lake down the street. Started teaching him the ruls of the road.
Rules:
1. Cars are big and they hurt.
2. Cars do not see you.
3. Some cars have stupid drivers
4. Stay on the sidewalk at all times and watch for cars.
5. See rule 1.

So we got in a nice 6.29 mile ride. And now he wants to go again. But I have to get ready to go to work.

I have a homemade 35W light that works quite well with a front and back strobe. Wish the battery lasted longer but it's actually good for 2 full commutes.

robtown: Nice light setup! WOW!

So, I took the recumbent back out and rode her to work today. Man that bike is fast! Gorgeous day out, think I will take the long way home this pm.



Today was gorgeous in Vermont !! Might be the last like that for a while, though :cry:
On my ride in I was in the Fixie daze....everything just flowed fast and seemingly effortlessly..
I was flying ! I get onto Rt. 7 where the shoulder is pretty wide but
has a big rumble strip to the left. I ride in between the rumble strip
and the rail. The shoulder has accumulated alot of road refuse so Im
flying along lookng down dodging roadkill, truckparts etc, that are in
my CYGO-LITES beam.....Out of nowhere I look up and there is a HUGE pumpkin decoration taking up almost the whole shoulder !! :eek: It
was one of those enormous bags that you fill with leaves but looks like a pumpkin when its full !! YIKES. I was able to flip the bike to the left at the last second to avoid the great pumpkin but the rumble strips vibrated the bike so harshly it was hard to hold on...I think I lost some fillings too !! :eek:
Ive been only running one of the beams on the headlite, I think I am going to burn them both for that stretch of road from now on.

Robtown: Do you have a 35W and 20W or 35W and 55W. I am really stunned how my old 10W helmet mount seems so dull. 55W is a serious amount of light.
I was running one 20w and one 35w (solux). I have a number of exchangeable Optronics housings (the black plastic ones) with various MR16 bulbs installed. I got a deal on 3 pair on ebay.

Today was gorgeous in Vermont !! Might be the last like that for a while, though :cry:
On my ride in I was in the Fixie daze....everything just flowed fast and seemingly effortlessly..
I was flying ! I get onto Rt. 7 where the shoulder is pretty wide but
has a big rumble strip to the left. I ride in between the rumble strip
and the rail. The shoulder has accumulated alot of road refuse so Im
flying along lookng down dodging roadkill, truckparts etc, that are in
my CYGO-LITES beam.....Out of nowhere I look up and there is a HUGE pumpkin decoration taking up almost the whole shoulder !! :eek: It
was one of those enormous bags that you fill with leaves but looks like a pumpkin when its full !! YIKES. I was able to flip the bike to the left at the last second to avoid the great pumpkin but the rumble strips vibrated the bike so harshly it was hard to hold on...I think I lost some fillings too !! :eek:
Ive been only running one of the beams on the headlite, I think I am going to burn them both for that stretch of road from now on.

:eek:
Nearly taken out by the Great Pumpkin! Now THAT has to go into the awards ceremony!

You are right my friend, I think that it is almost time to begin the XCC. :( Today, I was looking at a treaded tire for my cylcocross rear wheel. Bike guy was telling me that the tire I was looking at had a wire bead, and so was heavy. I don't think that weighs in as much of a factor (weighs in, get it?) when you are riding throughthe snow and ice of a Vermont winter. :rolleyes:

I was running one 20w and one 35w (solux). I have a number of exchangeable Optronics housings (the black plastic ones) with various MR16 bulbs installed. I got a deal on 3 pair on ebay.

That's a lot of light. Whats your run time. The best thing about building your lights are the limitless options one has. I gotta work out the issues with my battery. It's heavy and is putting a lot of weight on my rear tire. I had a flat yesterday and almost missed my train. Plus changing a flat with a 6lb battery on the rack ain't easy. Back to the drawing board.
LEM: long time no see.
VR: what battery are you running for the 35W. I will be shifting from 55W to 35W as soon as my order arrives.
articbiker: very extreme commute. I eagerly await your commute reports during winter. You northern guys really make me appreciate the Mid atlantic region
Otown: Hills....After commuting in Fla they bring you to attention
Oh yeah: todays commute looked gloomy(rain) but cleared up as i road. Fall is really setting in. Trees are still colorful but nearing the end.

Mars:

Please email me your address, so that I can ship you the pedals.

Thanks.

Mars:

Please email me your address, so that I can ship you the pedals.

Thanks.

just sent it! :)

So, what do you guys think? Should we be switching to XCC soon? I can't say the the weather is extreme here yet. But it IS November....

What is your vote - go to XCC cause it's November
OR
Wait til the weather gets cold enough to justify the honored XCC name.

Well I think (not due to weather, but due to speed) that all my commutes are xtream. :lol:

Check out this high speed pass I did when the wife was taping the 6 year old on his new bike. I had a 7 mph headwind and still got it just over 30 mph. I was did 12 laps of the park I live in and each lap is 1 mile. So far I have put 470.8 miles on the Denali in 19 days.

http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=4162&CID=50848

I could go with the XCC, since as you say it is November and some folks will be hitting extreme weather. In our area, there is nothing toe extreme until maybe the end of next week. And the real weather is even further off.